

The numbers we have outlined with Novak clearly point to a lower scoring game and the home team getting no favors whatsoever.Īdd in the fact that AT&T Stadium holds no significant home-field advantage regardless of who the referee or opponent is, the only way we can look here is to take the underdog.

The Cowboys have not faced anywhere near the level of competition in their contests. The Patriots have faced two of the top five teams in the NFL to start the season. This is one of the more intriguing games on the Week 4 slate. That was a 13-9 win for the home team Patriots, who were a 5.5-point favorite. Novak officiated the Cowboys versus Patriots in Week 12 of the 2019 season.Novak is 2-1 Under this season, with the games averaging 42.5 points. Novak was 11-5 Under in 2022 with his games combining for an NFL-low 38.5 points.Home teams in Novak’s career are 25-40-1 on the moneyline and just 21-42-3 ATS (34%), the worst home team ATS record of any official since 2019, Novak’s first season as a head referee.That has continued into this season with home teams 0-3 on the moneyline and 0-2-1 ATS. Home teams with Novak were 7-9 on the moneyline and a league-worst 4-12 ATS (25%) in 2022.Novak has ranked in the top three calling delay of game penalties in three of his four seasons, including the 2022 season.The Cowboys have struggled in this area more than the Patriots early in the 2023 season. Novak ranks third overall for false start penalties per game through three weeks of the NFL season.This season, only three of the 17 referees have called fewer offensive holding penalties than Novak. Only once in four seasons has he ranked in the top half of the league in per-game average. The positive this week is Novak has not consistently called this penalty. The Patriots have struggled with offensive holding penalties this season, in part due to injuries on their line.New England should continue to improve as the season progresses. While not perfect in 2023, there has been improvement in this area with Bill O’Brian running the offense. They were disorganized with Matt Patricia running the offense. Pre-snap penalties were a major issue for the Patriots in 2022.The primary reasons for this are defensive offsides and false start infractions. The Cowboys are ranked third overall in pre-snap penalties per game this season.That has increased to 56% on the home team in Novak’s three games officiated this season.
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#Bengals vs vikings score update#
We will update this article every week of the 2023 NFL season, highlighting at least three games where referee and penalty trends may have an impact on the betting market.
